


(it's not that) Complicated

by my_name_is_reginald_george



Category: Mean Girls - Richmond/Benjamin/Fey
Genre: F/F, Poly, Slow Burn, but also not?, you'll see - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-11
Updated: 2018-11-27
Packaged: 2019-07-10 22:36:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 17,969
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15958991
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/my_name_is_reginald_george/pseuds/my_name_is_reginald_george
Summary: cady has so much love for her gfs and just wants them to get along. when they finally do, it's more than she could've ever hoped for.





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i've been working on this for forever. was it worth it?

Janis wasn’t characteristically good at sharing, especially not something she was really into. To add insult to injury, the person she was expected to share with was Regina fucking George. The things she did for Cady Heron.

If she was honest with herself, she hoped that Regina would break Cady’s heart so that she wouldn’t have to deal with her anymore. It had happened to Janis before, and she’d gotten through it, so she was sure Cady could do the same. She hated herself for it, but she still hoped it would happen. Despite this, she couldn’t bring herself to actively try to break them up, couldn’t actively do anything that would hurt her girlfriend, who had been nothing but sunshine and bad jokes and lion facts since Spring Fling.

She was currently at the mall, waiting for Regina and Cady to finish trying on clothes in Forever 21 so they could head over to Hot Topic or Spencers or the frozen yogurt place in the food court. Regina stepped out first, making brief eye contact with Janis before leaning against the door of her dressing room and staring at the wall, waiting for Cady to come out.

“Janis,” Cady called tentatively. “Can you come help me?”

Janis rolled her eyes fondly and didn’t miss the jealous look in Regina’s eyes when she watched Cady unlock the door and let Janis into the dressing room. She had to stifle a laugh when she caught sight of Cady, with her arms stuck  in the strings across the back cutout of the top.

“I don’t think this is the one,” she muttered, twisting around in an attempt to free herself.

“Caddy, chill. I got this,” Janis said.

She gingerly pulled Cady’s hands back through the strings so that she was once again wearing the shirt and instructed her to slip her arms out of the sleeves and pin them against her sides. Cady complied quickly, eager to get the shirt off. Janis stepped up onto the chair in the corner and pulled the shirt over her head with ease. She hopped down only to be pulled into a kiss by a shirtless Cady.

“Thanks, babe,” Cady giggled.

Janis gave her a dopey grin that didn’t match her ripped tights and studded combat boots in the slightest.

“Sure thing.”

Cady gave her one last peck before pulling her striped t shirt over her head and dragging her back out to where Regina was waiting, absently scrolling through Instagram. She immediately brightened at the sight of Cady, which made Janis stop abruptly. She’d only seen Regina around Cady a handful of times, so it was still a shock when the head plastic smiled so genuinely, teeth and all. It reminded Janis of middle school. Regina used to smile at her like that.

She quickly shook off the thought, choosing instead to hug Cady from behind in the way she knew she liked. Cady squeaked in pleased surprise and placed her hands on top of Janis’, which rested against her stomach.

“Can we go somewhere interesting now?” she asked, a little smile playing on her lips despite the fact that she was pretending to be annoyed.

“What, like Hot Topic or some shit?” Regina huffed, obviously jealous of the way Cady was rocking back into Janis.

Janis may have been bad at sharing, but Regina was even worse at it. When Cady had first started dating Regina, she’d tried to monopolize her time. It always seemed to blow up in her face, though, because a third of the time, Cady would invite Janis to come along with them on whatever excursion Regina had planned. She was blissfully oblivious to how awkward it was when they two hung out.

“Reggie, be nice,” Cady said, pulling away from Janis to take Regina’s hand and stroke her thumb across the back of it. “We did what you wanted already. Now it’s time to do what Janis wants. She probably enjoys being here about as much as you enjoy Hot Topic. Besides, I saw a unicorn button up in there the last time we were here that I think she’d look really cute in.”

She let go of Regina’s hand and led the way out of the store, Regina and Janis following closely behind her.

“I can’t believe you let her call you _Reggie_ ,” Janis said under her breath. Regina barely spared her a cursory glance, instead increasing her pace to walk side by side with Cady. Janis huffed and did her best to keep up.

Regina paused outside of Hot Topic and held her breath before stepping in, like she was afraid she’d catch Teen Angst if she breathed the air. Cady seemed to take no note of this and instead dragged Janis back to the button up shirts by her wrist, excitedly pulling the first medium sized unicorn button up she saw off of it’s hanger and throwing it at her girlfriend.

Regina glared at the fingers still clamped around Janis’ wrist, clearly regretting choosing to come to the mall. Janis smirked at her ever so slightly, not daring to do anything more obvious as she slipped her jacket off of her shoulders, one of the sleeves getting caught where Cady was still holding onto her. Cady grinned sheepishly and let go, clapping her hands excitedly when Janis pulled the shirt onto her shoulders and immediately rushing to fix the collar.

“You look so good, Janis!” Cady complimented before turning back to fix her other girlfriend with a determined look. “Now I’ve just gotta find something for Regina.”

“This isn’t exactly my store,” Regina said, looking at the graphic tees displayed on the walls with contempt. Cady shook her head and tsked.

“You doubt me.”

Not five minutes later, she was back in front of Regina, holding a chain necklace with a Slytherin house points charm. Regina looked impressed.

“You remembered my Hogwarts house. And it’s minimalistic, just how I like my accessories.”

Cady rolled her eyes fondly.

“Of course I remembered your Hogwarts house. You know mine, right?”

“Hufflepuff,” Regina and Janis said instantly. Cady laughed.

“Yup. And you’re both Slytherins and secret Harry Potter nerds. Oh! Bond over that!”

And with that, she disappeared back into the store.

 

For the first time since they’d both started dating Cady, Regina was actually getting along with Janis Sarkisian. Who knew their mutual hatred for Snape would bring them together?

Janis had casually brought up how much she hated the greasy-haired bastard, and Regina had rejoiced for the commonality. They ranted about how people thought he was redeemable just because he wanted to fuck Harry’s mom, even though he’d bullied literal children for years all the way through dinner at the food court, and when Cady, always one to see the best in people, had said that, in the end, he had sided with the good guys, Janis had gasped and loudly reminded her that, in their third year at least, Snape was Neville’s greatest fear. It was the first time since middle school that Regina had felt that close to her.

That was the only reason she had agreed to stay for movie night at Cady’s, and now that Cady and Janis were hardcore cuddling on the couch, she was kind of regretting it.

Movie night was Cady and Janis’ thing. They’d been doing it long before Cady had even become a Plastic. Damian had been a part of it at first, but once they got together, he complained that he felt like a third wheel and resolved to only show up once a month. Even though she’d felt kind of guilty about intruding on that, Cady had asked her to stay, and for once, Janis had seemed enthusiastic rather than begrudging when she agreed.

Regina wondered if she’d be just as enthusiastic about her joining in on the cuddles.

Just when she was about to think up an excuse to leave, a particularly frightening jump scare in the horror flick Janis had put on popped up. Cady reacted by pulling Regina closer, sandwiching herself between her girlfriends. Regina exchanged a look with Janis, who shrugged rolled her eyes playfully and tightened her grip on Cady, prompting Regina to do the same.

When Cady asked Janis if she’d stay with her to protect her from the nightmares again, Regina did her best to ignore the way that her heart constricted at the implication that they’d done this before. Cady did her best to make it clear to Regina that she was just as important in her life, and there were plenty of times Regina had stayed over after a night of bingeing Pretty Little Liars and answering dumb Would You Rather prompts, but she was a naturally jealous person, so it was hard hearing that Janis and Cady had done just as much bonding, if not more.

After the movie ended, she got up and made her way to the door, assuming it was time for her to go. When Cady noticed what she was doing, she sprung out of Janis’ arms and essentially tripped over to Regina, her fuzzy socked feet skidding against the hardwood floor when she ran out of rug. Janis used her sudden freedom to take a bathroom break, leaving the two of them alone.

“Where are you going?” Cady asked. She looked a little panicked at the prospect of being alone with monsters.

“Home?” Regina raised an eyebrow, her hand on the doorknob. “I can hang out ‘til Janis gets back from the bathroom if you want, though. You seem kinda freaked.”

Cady nodded a little before vigorously shaking her head.

“No, wait, no.” She grabbed Regina’s hand from the doorknob and clasped in between both of her own. “I want you to stay even after Janis gets back from the bathroom.”

“Isn’t this kind of your thing?” Regina asked hesitantly. “I wouldn’t want to intrude. Especially not considering the… history I have with Janis.”

Cady huffed and pulled Regina back into the living room.

“She’s Janis. She’s, like, the most blunt person. She’ll tell you to your face if she wants you to leave.”

Regina paused to consider this and decided that Cady was probably right. After all, Janis once left for art ten minutes early because she was “just tired of looking at Regina’s face for the day.” Still, she knew if she played up her reluctance, she could get an extra dose of Cady’s affection.

“I dunno,” she said slowly, exaggeratedly looking over her shoulder towards the door.

Cady pouted and pulled Regina’s hands down to grip her hips, leaving her hands on top of Regina’s in a silent request that she not pull away.

“Please,” she said, leaning in to give her a gentle peck. “For me?”

She kissed her again, gentle as always. Regina deepened the kiss, slipping her hands into the back pockets of Cady’s jeans. Cady reciprocated eagerly, curling her fingers around Regina’s biceps and pressing against her. Behind them, Janis cleared her throat. Regina looked up sheepishly, half expecting Janis to be angry, but the girl’s expression was just an odd mix of annoyed and endeared.

“Are we going to bed or not?” she asked, turning on her heel and walking up the stairs despite the lack of response.

Cady gave Regina a knowing grin and pulled her up the steps. Janis had already changed into boxers and a faded Batman t shirt that she must’ve brought with her, knowing Cady’s habit of impromptu sleepovers. Cady offered Regina whatever pajamas she’d like. Regina grabbed a baggy looking mens’ flannel from her closet and smirked

When she returned, dressed and ready for bed, holding a stack of neatly folded clothes, she noticed both of the other girls staring at her ass. She gave Cady a wink that had her flushing scarlet but pretended not to notice Janis’ failing attempts to control her gay ogling.

She spent the night on the right side of Cady’s bed, being spooned by Cady, who was being spooned by Janis. Everything was warm and soft and smelled like Cady, and she felt herself sinking into her girlfriend’s embrace. The last thought she had before she dozed off was that, their relationship might be unconventional, but in its own weird way, it was perfect.

 

Slipping out of bed the next morning was no easy task. Cady’s legs brushed up against the back of Regina’s thighs as she slowly slid them out from under the covers, and she felt herself turning red again, despite the fact that no one else was even awake. She was well aware that modesty wasn’t Regina’s style, but she hadn’t expected her to be so exposed around Janis. Then again, Regina George really didn’t give any fucks.

She finally managed to free herself from the world’s weirdest game of Twister and slipped onto her bedroom floor. She shivered a little and grabbed Janis’ big jacket from her chair, wrapping it around herself. When she turned back around, she noticed that Janis was wrapped up around Regina. That was sure to blow up later, but there was nothing she could do now, so she simply slipped out of the room and downstairs to make breakfast.

Regina woke up to the smell of sausage and someone who was not Cady. They were warm, and their body didn’t feel entirely bad wrapped around her, but they were not Cady, and that in itself was cause for at least a small amount of panic. She slowly rolled over and came face to face with a mess of dark hair and chapped lips and trademark insomniac eye bags, who smelled like coffee and paint chips and coconut shampoo.

“Janis,” she hissed, backing as far away as she could without falling off the bed. “Janis, wake up.”

“What,” Janis groaned, tightening her grip on Regina and pulling her back in. She buried her face in her hair for a split second before stiffening.

“You’re not green apple,” she said, logrolling away before propping herself up on her elbows, a look of sleepy betrayal on her face. “You’re pomegranate!”

Regina busted out laughing. Janis scowled, her eyebrows knitting together. That only made Regina laugh harder.

“I’m sorry,” she managed to force out. “It’s just, I’ve never- I’ve never been told I’m a pomegranate in such an accusatory way. I’ve never been told I’m a pomegranate period.”

“It’s your shampoo, dipshit,” Janis said, narrowing her eyes. “Cady’s is green apple. Yours is, evidently, pomegranate.”

Regina composed herself easily.

“And yours is coconut. Now can we go get breakfast? I smell sausage.”

Cady smiled at Regina as she came down the stairs and rushed to give her a kiss good morning. Regina took in the sight in front of her fondly: Cady, hair mussed and eyes bright as always, a dash of either flour or baking soda dusting her cheekbone and brown sugar dotting her nose, a spatula in her right hand and various ingredients spilled all over the counter behind her.

“I made pancakes and sausage!” she said proudly, handing Regina a plate that the blonde immediately began to load.

Janis came down a few minutes later, fully dressed. Like Regina, she piled pancakes on her plate and drowned them in syrup, but instead of the sausage, she grabbed a banana from the fruit bowl on the counter. Regina said something about how she was crazy for being a vegetarian, and Janis dropped her banana peel on her head, making her squeal indignantly. Other than that, breakfast was pretty uneventful.

At least for Regina.

As Cady watched her girlfriends bicker playfully rather than callously, she considered their breakfast anything but uneventful.


	2. Chapter 2

Regina was walking down the hall with Gretchen when they were stopped by Janis, holding an iced macchiato, Gretchen’s coffee order. Regina did her best to hide her disappointment at not being brought free coffee. 

“Hey Gretch!” Janis said cheerily, handing her the cup. 

Gretchen took a sip and rolled her eyes with endeared exasperation. 

“Alright, what do you want?” 

“We-ell,” Janis started pursing her lips together, “Karen was supposed to help me get ready for my art show Friday afternoon but she bailed on me. Said she has some big date or something.”

Gretchen tensed, looking a little like a deer caught in headlights. Regina nudged her slightly and gave her an inquisitive look, but Gretchen refused to meet her eyes. Janis, ever the oblivious one, continued to talk. 

“Normally I wouldn’t bother with the way I look because I dress how I want, but this is my first time showing off my pieces at a real professional gallery, completely non sponsored by the school or any art programs. This was all me. They wanted my art! And even though it’s just a little local place, it still feels like a big deal. So can you help me?”

Gretchen had one of those looks on her face that she used to have whenever she’d step on the back of Regina’s shoe or show up five minutes late to one of Regina’s parties. Despite not being the cause of it, Regina felt her insides claw with leftover guilt. 

“Sorry, Janis,” Gretchen said, a sort of whine in her voice that made it seem like she was in physical pain. “I’ve got plans that night, too. You should’ve told us about your showing sooner! Karen and I would’ve changed our plans. Not that we have plans together or anything, just-”

“Gretchen, it’s fine,” Janis assured her. “Seriously, they’re showing my stuff until Sunday. I don’t think Karen even realized I meant this Friday when she agreed to help.”

Gretchen still looked a little frazzled at the stress of having to disappoint her friend, but she returned Janis’ easy smile shakily. 

“To be fair, she did forget it was Tuesday today,” she said, laughing a little. 

Regina looked between the two of them for a second, half expecting Janis to turn to her next. When she didn’t, Regina jumped into the conversation.

“Hey, I could help you! If you want.”

Gretchen looked like she was about to pass out from both the excitement that Regina was willing to make Janis over and the jealousy that Regina hadn’t asked her yet. Regina internally vowed to text her later and ask if she wanted to do each other’s makeup or something. 

Janis, on the other hand, looked hesitant and more than a little confused. She brought a hand up to rub at the shaved side of her head.

“Regina, I know we stay civil for the sake of the group. Well, mostly for Caddy, honestly. My point is we’re not exactly alone together kind of friends, so I just don’t know if that would be the best idea.”

Regina thought back to Janis essentially spooning her three days ago. Granted, she didn’t know it was her, but that had still been a somewhat bonding experience. Right? Caught up in her own disappointment that she hadn’t made as much progress with Janis as she had hoped, she didn’t notice the way Gretchen was clenching her jaw until it was too late. 

“Listen, Jan,” she said. Regina looked up in wide eyed horror, knowing she was about to witness Gretchen snap. “I know we’re friends and all, but Regina’s my friend, too. Even if she wasn’t a great friend for a while, she’s done everything in her power to make up for it, including hitting Jason Weems in the face with her cheese fries after he called me both a tease and a slut in the same sentence, which doesn’t even make sense, and coming to my little brother’s bar mitzvah when Karen was sick and the rest of you refused to sacrifice your Saturday, and what you just said to her was not cool. She offered to help you out, and you rejected it like an asshole, even though you made it perfectly clear that you need help.”

Janis looked completely taken aback at the sudden outburst. Regina’s cheeks were tinged pink in embarrassment, but also just because she really, really loved Gretchen, who wasn’t finished, by the way. 

“All of us have forgiven Regina for being a bitch for like three years and moved past it. All of us except you. It’s like you took a few baby steps and then decided she wasn’t worth it or something. Well let me tell you, buddy. Regina George is absolutely worth it. She goes to fucking group therapy with me and Karen and Cady, and she tries so hard to work it out, and now that she’s learned some coping skills, she is a goddamn good friend, so if you could just try-”

“It’s different for me!” Janis shouted. “My situation is entirely different than yours, Gretchen.”

And with that, she turned on her heel and stormed off. Gretchen’s muscles twitched like she wanted to touch Regina but was still afraid of being snapped at. Regina offered her a small smile and wrapped Gretchen’s arm around her shoulder. She felt Gretchen relax and pull her closer. 

“Thanks, Gretchen,” she said. “I love you. You know that, right?”

Gretchen smiled like Regina had just given her the sun. 

“I love you, too! I wish Janis would make more of an effort for your relationship. I mean, you clearly are.”

Regina sighed and turned further into Gretchen, ignoring the stares they were getting as they essentially cuddled in the hallway. 

“She’s right, though. It’s very different for her. I outed her, Gretch.”

“We were like thirteen,” Gretchen was quick to say. “You had no idea the rumor would take hold like that. Hell, you didn’t even know she was gay! I remember from group, you said you were just projecting or something. Like, you were gay for her, and your dad was… your dad, so you needed an excuse to stop hanging out with her.”

“I know that.” Regina huffed. “But I still feel terrible.” 

Gretchen released her hold on Regina to look her in the eye.

“Does she know all that, though?”

Regina thought for a second. She never had given Janis much of an explanation, had she? She’d apologized a million times, and she’d even come out to her at Spring Fling, hopped up on painkillers and bawling her eyes out as she stuttered sorries over and over again, but she’d never explained why she’d done it. She’d just assumed Janis would read between the lines, but what if she hadn’t?

“I’m going to her house after school,” she decided. 

Gretchen rubbed her arm and grinned proudly. 

“Good for you, Regina! Her coffee order is-”

“Hot chocolate with a shot of espresso,” Regina cut her off. 

Gretchen gave her a look that had Regina blushing and muttering “whatever” under her breath. Gretchen just shook her head and linked their arms together, dragging Regina towards their Calc class. 

 

Janis opened her door that stormy afternoon to find Regina standing on her porch, holding a cup of coffee and a tube of deep red lipstick, her wet hair sticking to her neck. She was shivering slightly, and her fingers were clenched tightly around the cup in her hand. A clap of thunder sounded, and Regina jumped, making Janis glad the coffee had a lid.

She didn’t say anything, just let Regina into her house because she knew if Regina didn’t get inside soon, there was a good chance she’d start crying. Regina nodded in shaky thanks and handed Janis the coffee and the lipstick, bring her hands up to wipe under her eyes where her mascara had run in the rain. Janis took a sip of the coffee. Hot chocolate with a single shot of espresso. She had to fight the urge to smile. 

“Why are you here, Regina?” she asked, pocketing the lipstick and taking another sip of her coffee. 

“I came to apologize again,” Regina said, trying to subtly wrap her arms around herself. 

Janis rolled her eyes and motioned for Regina to follow her through the house. 

“You’ve done that a million times,” she said, grabbing a towel from the linen closet and tossing it towards the shivering blonde. Regina was quick to wrap it around her shoulders.

“Yeah, but I never really explained why I did it. I know it doesn’t excuse anything, I just feel like you deserve to know.” She took a shaky breath. “My dad hit me when I tried to come out to him in 8th grade. It was two years before I tried again. The second time, I came out to him and my mom together. My mom hugged me and told me she loved me. My dad left us that night.” 

Janis’ eyebrows knitted together and her mouth fell open just a little. 

“Oh my God, Regina, I had no idea. I’m so sorry.”

“No, no, how could you have known? I never told you.” She looked down at her feet. “And then I came to school the next day and accused you of being a lesbian because I didn’t know how to deal with liking you.” 

“Wait.” Janis shook her head incredulously. “You  _ liked  _ me.  _ You _ liked  _ me _ ? I liked you!”

“Goddammit,” Regina muttered. 

Janis snorted. 

“Wow, and I thought I was the disaster lesbian.” She looked at Regina for a second. “You’re still shaking. Hang on, I’m gonna get you a sweatshirt.” 

She disappeared into her room, leaving Regina standing alone in the kitchen, dripping water onto the linoleum. 

“Does this mean you forgive me?” Regina asked hopefully when Janis returned, remembering how Janis had simply said  _ thank you _ after her other apologies. 

“Hm…” Janis tossed her the sweatshirt. “I’ll think about it.”

“Janis, c’mon,” Regina practically whined. “I’ll do anything.”

Janis smirked devilishly.

“Anything?”

Regina nodded vigorously. 

“I’m sick of fighting with you. What can I do to make it better, Jan?”

Janis pretended to think about it. This was possibly the best thing that ever happened to her. Well, barr Cady, of course. But having Regina George in the palm of her hand? That was too good an opportunity to pass up. 

“You can start by helping me get ready for my art show Friday,” she said, holding up the lipstick Regina had given her.

Regina’s face split into a grin, making Janis feel a little guilty. She’d already tried to ruin her life once, and that had ended with her getting hit by a bus.  _ This is different, _ she told herself.  _ I’m just having some fun this time. I don’t want to destroy her anymore. Besides, I’ve already forgiven her. I’m just dragging it out a little. What’s the harm in that? _

 

Cady was ecstatic to hear that Regina was helping Janis get ready on Friday. She was even more ecstatic to hear Regina ramble excitedly about it. 

“Babe, the lipstick I picked out is gonna look so good on her! I’m gonna put her in really dark jeans and a white t shirt but I’m gonna add like a black blazer to dress it up, y’know? And I’m gonna do a wrap around braid, which I think is gonna look really cool with the shaved head.”

Cady loved when her girlfriend talked about fashion. She was really good at styling individual people as well as knowing what was trendy at the time, and once she got going about it, it was hard to stop the gears spinning in her brain. 

Regina noticed the soft way Cady was looking at her and flushed under her gaze. 

“What?” 

Cady leaned forward to give her a peck on the lips.

“You’re just so cute when you get all passionate like this.” 

Regina smiled seductively and leaned in so that Cady could feel her breath on her lips when she spoke. 

“Oh yeah?”

“Well, this is more sexy,” Cady said, gulping.

Regina’s grin was feral as she moved to straddle Cady on the couch. Cady felt her breath catch in the back of her throat as Regina leaned down and kissed her deeply, her palms digging into Cady’s shoulder. Cady slid her hands to Regina’s waist, gripping at the skin where her shirt had ridden up when Regina moved her lips down Cady’s neck. 

She tilted her head back and drummed her fingertips against Regina’s side, fighting the urge to slip them up under Regina’s shirt. 

“Can I…” she trailed off, groaning as Regina’s teeth grazed her pulse point. 

Regina’s lips stilled against her skin. 

“Can you what?” she asked gently. 

Cady didn’t respond, just tugged at them hem of Regina’s shirt. She felt Regina smile against her neck before she sat up and pulled her shirt over her head. Cady did her best to keep her eyes glued to Regina’s eyes and not let herself stare at her polkadot bra. Regina rolled her eyes affectionately. 

“Babe, you can look. It’s fine.” 

Being the useless bisexual she was, Cady found herself very easily distracted by Regina’s chest. She barely registered Regina’s light laughter and was shocked back into reality when Regina leaned down to nip at her earlobe.

“We have about an hour ‘til my mom gets home,” Regina whispered in her ear. She didn’t have to tell Cady twice. 

When Mrs. George came home to find Regina’s shirt on backwards and Cady’s hair noticeably hiding her neck, she gave them a knowing look but didn’t say anything other than inviting Cady to stay for dinner. 


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TRIGGER WARNING: mentioned sexual assault

 

  * Help me get ready for my art show


  * Come to Damian’s production of Heathers: The Musical Jr. (cady’s out of town and it’s sure to be a shitshow)


  * Model for three (3) portraits for my art class


  * Give me access to your fancy pants bathtub with the jets for the rest of the month


  * Drive me home every day after school next week


  * Pick “The Shining” for movie night next week (it’ll be your turn to pick)


  * If I text you ‘pancakes’, it doesn’t matter what time it is, you’ll drop everything and come make them for me unless you are in class, at a doctor’s appt, or on a date with cady (other loopholes may apply. we’ll work through them on a case by case basis)


  * Take waltzing classes with me down at the community center on Sunday nights



 

Regina looked up from the piece of notebook paper covered in Janis’ untidy scrawl.

“What’s this?”

“That right there is the Eightfold Path to Forgiveness,” Janis answered, looking smug.

Regina did her best to ignore the leap in her chest when she realized that number six meant she was going to be included in movie night from now on. She scanned the list again. She had no problem doing most of this. The pancake thing would probably come back to bite her in the ass, but Janis’ house was on the way home for her and she didn’t mind sharing her tub or watching a disaster play. Still…

“Waltzing?” she mused.

“I wanna piss off the homophobic old people,” Janis said with a shrug. “Well, I actually just wanna piss off this one lady, Mabel or Margret or something. I was at some restaurant with Caddy, and she felt the need to tell me my hair made me look like a dyke from the booth next to us. Then, she realized Caddy and I were on a date and said, _I didn’t know they let your kind in here_.” She wrinkled her nose and made her voice high-pitched and scratchy to imitate the lady. “She mentioned to her husband that she was excited for waltzing classes. Thus, my brilliant revenge plan.”

Regina shook her head fondly and laughed. Of course Janis was going to learn to waltz out of pure spite.

“Why didn’t you ask Cady to go with you?” she asked.

“Cady has the coordination of a three-legged puppy,” Janis deadpanned.

Regina nodded. It was a sad yet accurate comparison.

“Okay, I’m in,” she said.

Janis looked honest to God surprised.

“Wait, really?”

“Yes. Now, let’s get ready for your art show.”

 

Janis had to admit, the outfit Regina had put her in was very her. In addition to the jeans, t shirt, and blazer, Regina had added a red tie that matched the color of her lipstick to an impressive degree.

“How much did you pay for this?” Janis asked while Regina fixed it around her neck. “I can pay you back.”

Regina was quick to shrug her off.

“Don’t worry about it. It’s my mom’s boyfriend’s. Robert said I could keep it.”

“That’s cool of him,” Janis said, trying to ignore how close Regina was to her neck.

“Yeah, Robert’s cool,” Regina said absently, standing back to admire her handywork. “And my mom seems really happy, which is great. She deserves someone who’ll make her happy.”

“I hope this isn’t too personal, but how did you end up kind of… bullying your mom? Didn’t you say she handled your coming out really well? That she told you she loved you?”

Regina let out a disappointed huff. This was one of the things she felt worst about.

“After my dad left, I thought she’d blame me, so I kinda pushed her away. And when I started to date all those guys in high school, she asked me about it, and I flipped out on her. That’s actually the night I made her trade rooms with me…” she trailed off, remembering how hurt and panicked her mom had looked when Regina had blown up on her that night in tenth grade. She quickly shook off the thought.

“Wanna hear something funny?” she asked with a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes.

Janis nodded, seeming eager to get her back to normal.

“I grounded myself a couple of weeks ago,” Regina laughed. “Remember when I took the bus for three days? It was because I was doing homework, and my mom called me down for dinner like three times, and I told her to shut up in my Queen Bee voice. Then she apologized to me. I felt so guilty about it that I grounded myself. It was supposed to be for a week, but I couldn’t take it anymore, so I just bought her some flowers and figured it was good enough.”

Janis chuckled, and Regina grinned at her, glad to be able to still make her childhood best friend laugh. She checked the time and realized it was almost 6:30.

“I gotta get changed. Cady will be here any minute.”

“Huh?” Janis said, confused, as Regina grabbed the dry cleaning bag she’d brought with her.

“We’re both gonna wear red and ride to the show with you, so you can be flanked by a couple of hot girls when you walk in, like one of those big time artists or something.”

Before Janis could process, she disappeared. The doorbell rang before Regina came back. Janis practically raced to answer it, knowing it would be Cady. When she opened it to find Cady in a strapless red sundress, she almost died then and there. Cady grinned at her, showing all her teeth in typical Cady Heron fashion, and gave her a quick peck on the lips.

“Regina was right, that shade of lipstick looks great on you!”

“And you, apparently,” Janis returned.

“Regina suggested we all wear the same shade so we could kiss without the colors mixing,” Cady explained.

“Speaking of,” Regina said, coming to a stop next to Janis and Cady and giving Cady a quick kiss.

Regina’s dress was short and form fitting, and honestly, Janis shouldn’t have expected any less. She knew Regina liked to show off her body, but that didn’t stop the oncoming gay panic attack every time Janis saw her particularly dressed up.

It wasn’t like Janis had feelings for Regina or anything. She was just a lesbian with eyes. Regina was hot as fuck. She could admit that without admitting- no, not admitting, without developing feelings for her (again).

“Shall we go?” Regina asked, taking Cady’s hand and interlacing their fingers.

Janis nodded and led the way out to her car. Because she had the keys, not because she didn’t want to risk staring at Regina’s stupid perfect ass. It was going to be a long night.

Cady and Regina stuck to their plan of flanking Janis when she made her entrance and for a good while after. It was harder to ignore her extreme homosexuality with both Cady and Regina pressed up against her. Both of the girls on her arms spent the first half hour praising Janis’ art, and Janis had to admit, when she’d organized the layout for her pieces at the gallery, she’d done a really good job.

A little over an hour into the show, they got to the piece Janis had done of Cady. It had started with a sketch she’d drawn in physics one day and turned into a full scale portrait. The background was a mess of blurred watercolors, and there was a yellow glow surrounding Cady’s figure. Cady saw it and immediately burst into tears, and it took a giant group hug in the middle of the gallery for her to finally stop crying. Janis was glad that Regina had apparently recommended waterproof mascara for their girlfriend.

Regina had still seemed a little jealous of the long kiss Cady gave Janis afterwards, but it was nothing compared to the first time she’d seen seem them kiss. Janis allowed herself to rest her hands against Cady’s lower back and catch Regina’s eye, and Regina actually smiled at her. Even if it seemed a little forced, it was progress.

Eventually, Regina got caught up in a conversation about Phantom of the Opera with Damian, who’d taken it upon himself to show her musicals in hopes that she would turn out to be another “Broadgay.” Janis had been oh so disappointing and only liked Book of Mormon and the Rocky Horror Picture show. So far, Operation Musical Theater had been a success. Regina understood Damian’s tendency to identify with the more dramatic characters as they were both extra and gay.

Cady took advantage of the opportunity and pulled Janis into a nearby bathroom so she could push her up against the wall and make out with her. Janis was pleasantly surprised by the sudden dominance and allowed her girlfriend to mess up her hair and smear her lipstick.

“Regina made a good call on the lipstick,” Janis said when Cady finally pulled back. She ran a thumb under her girlfriend’s bottom lip, wiping up the excess. “I should probably get back out there. My mom wants to take our picture under your piece.”

Cady gave her a dorky smile.

“When you say _my piece_ , do you mean I get to keep it?”

Before Janis could answer, they were interrupted by a very familiar shriek. Regina. Cady raced frantically to the door, losing her heels in the process, and Janis followed behind her, albeit a little slower. She made her way outside to find Regina standing in front of some jock, eyes closed, jaw clenched, mouth drawn into a straight line, hands flexing at her sides. The front of her dress was wet, and the guy in front of her was holding a cup and looking like he was two seconds away from leaving the gallery with his tail between his legs.

“What. The fuck,” Regina seethed, finally opening her eyes.

It didn’t take long for Cady to put two and two together and step forward like a 5’4 lion about to pounce on a linebacker sized gazelle.

“Shane, what did you just throw on her?” she practically growled. “No, wait, I don’t even care. Why the hell would you think you can just,” she inhaled and exhaled deeply, “throw your drink on my girlfriend.”

“Woah, what do you mean, your girlfriend?” Shane retorted, standing up straight and crushing his plastic cup in his fist as he crossed his arms. “I thought you and the art freak were going out.”

“Regina here is also my girlfriend. Not that that’s any of your business.”

Shane scoffed and gestured outwards with his bigass hands.

“So Regina dumps me for you, even though you’re already with Sarkisian. How’s that fair?” He turned to his audience, which was mostly comprised of Janis’ family and was definitely not on this side. “I have no girlfriend, and Heron gets two?”

Janis grinded her teeth and shook her head in exasperation. She took two controlled steps forward.

“Just answer the question, dipshit. Why’d you throw the drink on her?”

“Because she told me to go fuck myself!” Shane said angrily.

“Because you grabbed my ass!” Regina retorted.

Fuck controlled steps. Janis practically pounced on the guy, getting up in his face in a matter of seconds.

“You come to my art show and touch one of my friends and then throw a drink on her?”

Shane sneered.

“Oh, whatever, Space Dy-”

Regina’s fist crashed into his jaw, and he stumbled backwards.

“I broke up with you because I’m a lesbian, you fucking asshole,” Regina said. “And if you don’t leave right now, I’ll tell the whole football team about the time we were hooking up and you moaned Seth Mosakowski’s step mom's name.”

Shane shook his head but didn’t say anything else, simply turned on his heel and left. Regina shook out her hand and winced. Cady was quick to rush to her side, gingerly grabbing a wrist and pressing kisses to each of her knuckles. Janis sidled up next to them.

“Uh, thanks,” she said awkwardly.

“Sure thing,” Regina shrugged.

Janis stared at the stain on the front of her dress awkwardly for a few seconds before shrugging off her blazer and draping it across Regina’s shoulders. Regina smiled gratefully at her and held her gaze until Cady distracted her with a kiss on the cheek.

“I think it’s time to go,” Regina said. “That is, if you can bail early, Jan.”

Janis nodded and once again led the way to the car. They got back to the house, and Regina and Cady said goodbye before getting into Regina’s car. Cady waved at Janis the entire time they were backing out of the driveway. Janis went inside and fixed herself a bowl of ice cream before settling down to watch some Netflix. She was interrupted halfway through her first episode of Stranger Things by a knock at the door.

 

Regina stood on Janis’ doorstep for the second time that day, looking nervously over her shoulder. It was too dark out for her to see much, which did nothing to assuage the dread crawling up her back like the world’s deadliest spider.

Janis opened the door, a bowl of Rocky Road perched in her left hand. She looked like she was about to make a snarky comment before she caught sight of the panicked look on Regina’s face and let her in immediately.

“What’s up? I thought you were going home?” she asked, her eyebrows drawn in that way Regina never really stopped associating with Janis.

“Shane followed me home,” Regina said, slamming the door behind her and locking it. She gulped, her chest rising and falling with the bob of her throat. “Well, he followed me to Cady’s. I only got about halfway to my house before I took a U-Turn and drove back to yours. My mom’s on a yoga retreat with the class she teaches.”

“Woah, hold up. He followed you home?” Janis demanded, craning her head to look out the window. “I have a baseball bat in my garage, we should go find that son of a bitch and-”

“Janis, don’t,” Regina pleaded. “I can handle it, okay? Please don’t get involved. That’s why I didn’t stay at Cady’s. She’d want to get involved.”

She watched Janis’ expression change from anger to concern.

“Hey, what is it?” she asked softly.

Regina felt her lip wobble. _Oh, God, don’t cry_ , she screamed internally, but it was no use. She burst into tears. Janis looked a little panicked as Regina fell into her, but she still snaked her arms around Regina’s waist and threaded a hand through her hair, holding her to head to her chest.

“Janis, he- he’s started- he tried to-” her voice broke and she let out a muffled sob.

“Shhh,” Janis murmured. “It’s okay. I’ve got you. It’s okay.”

Regina took a shaky breath, willing herself to calm down. She refused to lift her head and look at Janis.

“This isn’t the first time Shane’s tried to touch me,” she finally said, feeling a phantom hand sliding up her ribcage. Janis’ grip on Regina tightened but she stayed quiet. Regina continued.

“He was really nice about it when I came out, really supportive. He even insisted that he drive me to school, even though my car’s nicer than his, just because he wanted to make sure nobody picked on me in the parking lot. That’s what he told me. But then one morning, we pulled into his space, and I went to get out of the car, and he-” She felt her voice break again, but she took another deep breath, determined to power through. “He grabbed my wrist and pulled me backwards and kissed me. Then, he slipped his hand up my shirt and groped my boob. He managed to slip his tongue in my mouth before Kevin Gnapoor saw what was happening and hit him in the head with his math textbook.”

Only then did Regina notice she was shaking.

“I’m so sorry, Regina,” Janis said, absently playing with her hair like she used to in middle school. “That really sucks, and I’m sorry that happened to you. Does anyone else know?”

“Only my mom,” Regina said. “She and I signed up for mother daughter self defenses classes.”

“That’s cute,” Janis said. “Wait, it’s okay to say that’s cute, right? The mother daughter self defense classes. Nothing else about this situation-”

“Janis, it’s okay,” Regina assured her. “They make me feel a lot safer. But, uh, Shane’s been kinda stalking me ever since then. I think he’s scared I’m gonna tell the school board.”

“Why don’t you?” Janis asked.

Regina huffed bitterly.

“The board’s a bunch of middle aged men that includes Shane’s dad. Like they’d take me seriously.”

“That really fucking sucks,” Janis said again. She pulled Regina down onto the couch and took both of her hands. “I think we should go to Cady’s. You don’t have to tell her anything, but you need her.”

Regina stayed silent for a moment, one question pounding in her skull over and over.

“Does this make me damaged goods?” she asked quietly. “Is it unfair to not tell Cady I’m a little worse for wear.”

“Regina.” Janis looked more serious that Regina had ever seen her. “Who you tell is entirely up to you. This is your experience. And nothing about you is damaged. If anyone’s damaged, it’s Shane.”

Regina tore her gaze and her hands away, her shoulders curling up to her ears.

“I just feel so stupid. And weak. Why is this affecting me that much? Shane’s touched me before, way more than that.”

Janis looked downright angry now.

“You are not stupid, okay? Now, c’mon, we’re going to Cady’s.”

Regina felt herself start to shake again.

“What if Shane’s still out there?”

Janis disappeared into the kitchen and returned a second later with a can of wasp spray.

“We Boyscout mace him,” she deadpanned, grabbing her keys. “I won’t let anything happen to you. I promise.”

 

Cady looked down at the sleeping girl in her lap. She’d worn herself out recounting what she’d told Janis earlier and crying, this time in Cady’s arms. Despite the fact that Janis had assured her she didn’t need to tell Cady if she didn’t want to, Regina had said she’d feel better if she did. Cady had remained calm and composed the entire time, whispering sweet nothings to Regina until she’d eventually nodded off, but now that she was asleep, she allowed herself to be angry.

“I’m gonna beat that motherfucker to a pulp the next time I see him,” Cady seethed. Her left hand traced calm constellations up and down Regina’s back, but her right clenched and unclenched.

“No offense, Cady, but you’re kinda tiny,” Janis said. “I don’t think you could take him.”

“Yeah, but I could get a few good hits in before he gave me a concussion,” Cady said.

Janis raised an eyebrow at her, and Cady wrinkled her nose.

“Has Regina not told you I’m ripped?” she asked. “Apparently we go to the same gym. Here.”

She put Janis’ hand against her bicep and flexed.

“Wait, you and Regina both regularly work- Jesus Christ, Cady Heron, hold me in your big strong arms please and thank you.”

Cady gave her a little smile that didn’t reach her eyes in the slightest before looking down at Regina tenderly. She gingerly turned her over and scooped her up in her arms, bridle style.

“Sorry, but I think Regina is more in need of my muscles right now.”

Janis nodded and hummed in agreement. Cady stood up and began her trek up the stairs, taking careful steps.

“You’re welcome to stay, if you want,” she called over her shoulder.

“Nah,” Janis said. “I should probably head home and celebrate with my mom. This was a big night for me after all.”

“Okay, bye, love you,” Cady said. It was only after she’d wiped Regina’s makeup off and tucked her into bed that she realized what she said. She was in love with Janis. As she looked down at her other girlfriend, tear tracks streaked across a freckles she desperately tried to cover up, she realized she was also in love with Regina. Fuck, she was in deep.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> short chapter but a lot happens

When Regina woke up this time, there was no coffee or paint chips behind her. Instead, there was green apples and cinnamon and Old Spice and Cady’s breath hitting the back of her neck. She rolled over and tucked her head under Cady’s chin, nuzzling her nose into the skin by Cady’s collarbone. 

“Soft Regina,” Cady mumbled, pulling her closer. 

Regina was tempted to deny it, but Cady was cute and warm, and it was so nice to be wrapped up in her arms. 

Instead, she responded with, “Prime soft hours,” prompting Cady to give her a sloppy forehead kiss. 

“I love you,” she said sleepily before stiffening almost immediately and muttering, “Shit not again.” 

Regina opened one eye and looked up at her girlfriend, who was as red as Christmas ribbon.

“I, uh- I mean… well, uh-” her voice cracked.

Regina quickly closed the distance with a kiss.

“I love you, too, dork. Now can we please go back to sleep? It’s like sunrise.” 

“We should get up and watch it!” Cady said enthusiastically, her entire demeanor changed. 

“Nooooo,” Regina said, clinging to Cady like a limpet. “Sleep. Please.”

“Sunrise and cuddles on my roof instead?” Cady suggested. “It’s nice and warm out since it’s almost summer.”

Regina groaned into Cady’s thigh before pushing herself up, her hair ridiculously mused, but she was too in love to care. 

“Ugh, fine, but only because I get to check out your legs in your sleep shorts when you climb out the window.” She looked down at her own attire. “Also, I’m wearing a dress?” 

Cady grabbed some running shorts and a hoodie and tossed them to Regina before scrambling over to her window. 

“I’ll be on the roof,” she said, already climbing out. 

Regina shook her head with fond exasperation before stripping out of her too tight dress. God, had she really slept in that thing? She got changed quickly, inhaling when she pulled Cady’s sweatshirt over her head and hoping Cady was already too distracted by the sunrise to notice. She hoisted herself through the window and onto the slab of roof just below it before plopping directly into Cady’s criss-crossed lap. 

Cady gave an amused huff of protest before wrapping her arms around Regina and resting her head on her shoulder. It was worth noting that it was certainly not “nice and warm out,” but Cady tended to run warmer than average, so her body heat seeped into Regina’s cold legs, heating her up in more ways than one. With Cady’s bear arms wrapped around either side of her, Regina wondered how she didn’t seem the slightest bit cold in cloth sleep shorts and a t shirt. 

“So, you love me, huh?” she mused. 

Cady pressed a kiss to her jaw and hummed affirmation into her skin. Regina smiled lazily. 

“I thought it’d feel less special, knowing you love Janis too, but it doesn’t. Cady Heron being in love me, Cady Heron telling me she loves me… That’s about as special as it gets.”

“Wait, you know I’m in love with Janis?” Cady asked, absently moving her thumb in the shape of the Big Dipper against Regina’s wrist. 

“Duh,” Regina said. “I’ve probably known longer than you, actually. It’s all in the way you look at her. You loved her first, but it didn’t take you long to look at me that way, too. But I still win because I fell in love with you before you and Aaron broke up.” 

“You did, huh?” Cady started to trace Orion’s belt up her arm. “Tell me more.”

“I actually cried to Gretchen about it. It sucked while y’all were together. And then it took Janis asking you out for me to swallow my pride and ask you, too.” 

“These really are prime soft hours,” Cady said. 

They sat on the roof, Regina tangled up in Cady’s arms as they watched the sun rise, oranges and pinks streaking through the darkness like lightning bolts of watercolor. Eventually, Cady stood up, holding onto Regina’s sides to bring her with her. 

“Alright, time for breakfast,” she said, climbing back through the window.

As Regina followed her, a sudden thought struck her. 

“Wait. Do your parents know I’m here?”

“No, why?” Cady asked, her hand on the door knob. 

“They’re gonna think we had sex,” Regina said bluntly. That was enough to bring Cady back to the center of the room. She plopped down on her bed, looking up at Regina quizzically. 

“What makes you say that?”

“Let’s see, you snuck me in in the middle of the night without their knowledge, I’m wearing your clothes, the only other outfit I have with me is a fairly revealing dress, and I’m noticeably not wearing a bra.”

“Put on a bra then?” Cady suggested. 

“Then we still have all our other problems to deal with, and I’m uncomfortable.” 

Cady threw herself back so she was laying down and stared at the ceiling. Regina scooted next to her and curled into her side. 

“They’re gonna think we had sex,” she repeated.

Cady groaned.

“Can you stop saying that?” 

“Well, it’s true.” Regina smirked. “They’re gonna be so shook. Innocent little Cady, sneaking her girlfriend in in the middle of the night. Janis and I have really turned you into quite the wild child.” 

Cady side-eyed her. Regina gave her her best smile. Cady hit her in the face with a pillow. 

“Y’know what,” she finally said. “We’re just gonna go downstairs and hope for the best.”

 

Regina had been right. Cady’s parents had totally thought they’d had sex. They didn’t dare bring it up while Regina was there, but they did throw them some questioning glances. Afterwards, Cady had explained that Regina had been really upset last night and needed someone to hold her while she cried, and her parents were quick to believe her, probably because she’d never given them a reason not to (besides that one party earlier on in the year), but probably also because that’s what they wanted to believe. Cady totally didn’t store that information away for later. 

Regina left soon after breakfast, and Cady was dressed and ready for the park by eleven. She found Janis sketching on a bench there, just as she’d expected. 

Janis was on her feet the second she saw her approaching, waving like an idiot, something she was prone to do when Cady surprised her in the park.

“Hey, Caddy!” she said, giving her a quick kiss on the cheek before sitting back down to resume sketching. “What’s up?”

“Nothing much,” Cady said, taking the seat to her right. Janis immediately took her hand and starting playing with her fingers, her left hand deftly sketching a little grey bird picking at a potato chip a few feet away. Cady smiled down at their hands, briefly forgetting her purpose. 

“So about last night,” she said slowly. 

“It’s fine, Caddy,” Janis said absently. “It was a heat of the moment thing. You had a lot going on.” 

Cady swallowed hard. 

“I meant it.” 

Janis looked up from her drawing and closed her sketchbook without glancing away from Cady’s face. 

“Janis, I love you,” Cady said.

Janis laughed awkwardly and shot her finger guns.

“Thank you,” she said. Then she bolted. 

Cady stared after her in a kind of daze. Then, she pulled out her phone and called the first person she could think of. 

 

Gretchen had been thrilled when Regina had asked if she wanted to come over for a girls’ day. It made Regina instantly glad she had done it. Sitting there with face masks on, painting each others’ nails telling first date horror stories that they hadn’t bothered to share during Regina’s reign of terror, Regina was reminded for about the hundredth time in the last week of just how funny Gretchen could be. 

Then, Regina dropped the bomb that Cady loved her back, and Gretchen gasped so loud that Regina’s mom came running in, expecting to find a small fire, like that time Karen had accidentally microwaved leftover mac n cheese for way too long. 

She’d spent the next fifteen minutes patiently listening to how good Cady smelled, and how blue her eyes were, and how she always traced stars into Regina’s skin, and how her nose crinkled when she laughed, and just how generally in love they were. 

She looked like she was on the verge of telling Regina something as well, but they were interrupted. 

That was why she was annoyed when the phone rang. And then she saw the caller ID. And then she heard Cady’s voice break on the other line. 

“Janis just… just left me alone in the park,” she started. And then it was like the floodgates were open. “I accidentally told her I loved her last night and then accidentally told you this morning, which went way better by the way, so I went to the park to tell her again, or at least to make sure she heard it the first time, and she started talking about slip ups and heat of the moment and stuff, and then I was like,  _ I meant it _ , and then she literally ran. She got up and ran away, Regina! How am I s’posed to deal with that, huh?” 

“Hey, babe, breath, okay?” Regina instructed. “In and out. Are you sitting down on teh bench?”

There was a pause before Cady quietly said, “Yeah.”

“Okay, good,” Regina said. “Stay there and work on calming down. Remember, in and out. Don’t think about it too much. Gretch and I will be there as soon as we can.”

“Okay,” Cady said shakily. “I love you.”

“I love you, too,” Regina said. “See you in a bit.”

Cady hung up with a timid goodbye. Regina’s eyes darted to Gretchen’s face, wide and worried. 

“Is it cool if we go pick her up?” she asked, panicked. 

“Of course, hun,” Gretchen said, pulling off both her and Regina’s sheet masks. “I’ll drive so you guys can sit in the back seat together.” 

Cady was sitting on the park bench when they got there, in tears. Regina sat down next to her and opened her arms, allowing Cady to burrow into them. Gretchen stood there awkwardly for a second. Regina gave her a pleading look, and soon, she was rubbing Cady’s back. 

“Hi, Gretch,” Cady said, peeking up from where her head rested on Regina’s chest. 

“We’re having a girls’ day,” Regina said softly, stroking at her girlfriend’s hair. “Wanna come watch a movie and eat lots of Ben and Jerry’s with us? My mom’s at the store. I can text her to stock up.”

Cady nodded weakly and got up off the bench, her head hung. It was like someone had extinguished the sun. There was no usual bounce in her walk. It was like she was Atlas, shuffling back to the car with the weight of the world on her shoulders. Cady may have been built, but she wasn’t built for that. 

They ended up watching a Harry Potter movie marathon on Freeform. Cady silently cried herself to sleep in Regina’s arms, and Regina tried not to think about how, not twenty four hours ago, the roles had been reversed. Gretchen left after the fourth movie to meet Karen at the mall, but not before Regina promised to reschedule to a time Cady wasn’t having a small crisis. 

“We’ve all been there,” Gretchen tried to joke. She and Regina both laughed awkwardly. 

Cady woke up a few hours later and went home, taking the rest of The Tonight Dough with her. Regina watched her leave, silently hoping the sun would come out, just a little, before she reached the door. Nothing. She sighed and settled back down, scrolling absently through Twitter. 

Not twenty minutes later, Regina got a text.  _ Pancakes _ . She glared down at her phone for a second before pulling on her shoes and shrugging on her jack. Janis Sarkisian had another thing coming. 


	5. Chapter 5

Regina was fully prepared to kick Janis’ ass as she let herself into Janis’ house, but one look at the girl, curled into a ball on the kitchen floor, an unopened sack of flour in her lap and one of her bigass jackets draped over her shoulders, all red rimmed eyes and pitiful sniffles that reminded Regina of when Janis’ mom had overdosed when they were kids, and she was sitting on the floor next to her, her fire extinguished by the tears leaking from Janis’ eyes. 

She didn’t say anything, just set the flour on the floor and opened her arms, allowing Janis to fall into her lap. If Regina had known becoming friends with Cady and Janis meant so much crying, she might not have put in such an effort. 

“Y’know, she’s pretty torn up about this, too,” Regina said after a while, her tone a weird contrast of soft murmurs and no bullshit. “Why was your first instinct to literally run away from her?”

“I’m not worth it,” Janis said. “I’m all broken and shit. My dad left before my first birthday, my mom’s hardly around, and when she is, she’s either drunk or high or sleeping or some weird combination of the three. I’ve got the emotional baggage the size of Elle Woods’ luggage, not to mention the fact that, when I first met her, I took her insecurities and used them to manipulate her into trying to ruin your life.” 

Regina scoffed. 

“Do you think  _ I _ feel worthy of Cady? I spent like three years being a stone cold bitch to everyone. Look me in the eyes and tell me no part of you feeling broken has anything to do with the havoc I wreaked when I was a scared thirteen year old. But unlike you, I realize that I can’t spend eternity hating myself for what I did and punishing myself for that. That’s not fair to me, and more importantly, that’s not fair to Cady. You may not think you’re worth it, but Cady sure as hell does, or she wouldn’t have fallen in love with you.” 

Regina did her best to ignore the way Janis’ legs wrapped around her waist, the way her arms snaked around her back, the way her breath hit the side of her neck and her tears fluttered from her eyelashes to Regina’s skin. 

“Cady loves you, too, doesn’t she?” Janis asked, and Regina would’ve been worried if Janis hadn’t pressed closer against her, fondness lacing her tone. 

“Yeah. We’re the luckiest people in the world, aren’t we?”

“The universe,” Janis corrected, finally loosening her grip on Regina and sitting up to face her. Jesus Christ, she was close. 

“Does this mean you’re gonna stop being a fucking idiot?” Regina asked, doing her best to smirk. 

Janis smirked back and scrambled off her lap before offering Regina her hands and pulling her to her feet. 

“Pancakes?” She jerked her head towards the refrigerator. 

Regina rolled her eyes and grabbed a bowl from a nearby cupboard. 

“Whatever, loser. Move out of the way. I need to get to the fridge.”

Regina made pancakes, and Janis cooked sausage links on the Foreman, and they had breakfast at 2 a.m. It felt so familiar, cooking in Janis’ kitchen. Regina tried to ignore the fact that it felt so familiar because she’d had to teach Janis how to cook for herself and just focus on the warm bubble of nostalgia that had seemed to form around the kitchen. Janis texted Cady to join them for supper, and Regina went to pick her up after threatening to dip Janis’ toothbrush in vinegar if she ate all the food without them. 

By the time the food was gone, Cady was significantly less distraught, but they still hadn’t addressed the elephant in the room. Regina gave Janis a look and excused herself, going to sit in the den and watch Cake Boss. 

After about ten minutes, she paused it and called, “Stop making out back there and come watch TV with me!”

Cady came out first, looking sheepish, but she quickly cuddled into Regina’s side and stole the remote, changing the show to The Office. Regina gave a little hmph but made no attempt to change it back. 

Janis came in a few minutes later, a coffee and two hot chocolates in tow. Cady made grabby hands at her hot chocolate, her eyes lighting up at the mountain of whipped cream and marshmallows Janis had added to hers. Regina grabbed Janis’ hand and steadied her cup before dumping a little bit of her coffee into her hot chocolate, and Janis smiled warmly at her, swirling it around a bit before taking a sip and flopping down onto the couch next to Cady. 

“I still can’t believe coffee’s too bitter for you,” Regina teased. 

Janis pouted. 

“Hey, you put a shit ton of milk and sugar in yours!”

“And I appreciate it,” Regina said, taking a sip. “But you literally cannot drink anything shy of a mocha. Remember that time you and Gretchen’s cups got switched?” 

She and Cady laughed as Janis made a face. 

“How the fuck does she handle it black?”

“Please, Gretchen lives off coffee,” Regina said, still grinning at the mental image of Janis with coffee dripping down her chin in first period. 

Janis was still pouting. She took an angry gulp of her hot chocolate. Cady giggled and kissed her cheek.

“Don’t worry,  _ malaika _ , I don’t like it either. Tea with honey and hot chocolate are they way to go.”

Janis scrunched up her brow. Regina, recognizing the Swahili rolling off her girlfriend’s tongue, saw an opportunity that she was by no means going to pass up. She gave Cady her most angelic smile. 

“ _ Busu _ ?” she requested. 

Cady’s face lit up and she clambered onto Regina’s lap to give her an overly enthusiastic kiss. When Regina finally broke the kiss, she looked over to find Janis looking even more confused and a little offended. 

“Not fair?” she asked. “Also, what are y’all saying?”

“Hah, y’all,” Regina laughed. 

Janis scowled at her. 

“It’s Swahili!” Cady exclaimed, still excited that Regina had retained the information. “Gretch wanted to learn how to say some stuff, so I taught her and Karen and Regina.  _ Busu _ means kiss, and  _ malaika _ is a term of endearment.” She turned to her other girlfriend. “I can’t believe you remembered!” 

Regina gave her another quick peck and a smile that bordered on shy.

“Of course I remembered. You get so cute when you geek out over stuff like that.” 

And suddenly Cady was kissing her again. Janis humphed. 

“Cady and I just said I love you for the first time, but you’re her favorite right now? Not fair.”

“Yeah, but can you say it in Swahili?” Regina teased.

Janis raised an eyebrow.

“Can you?”

“ _ Nakupenda _ ,” Regina said easily, just before Cady’s lips came crashing back down on hers, hard. Regina was certain her lips would be bruised from the impact. 

“Caddy, I have your painting,” Janis said, and just like that, Cady had jumped off of Regina’s lap and sprinted down the hall after Janis. 

They returned a few minutes later, Cady with a canvas pressed to her sweater. There were some paint chips stuck to the threads, making it obvious that she had originally held the front to her chest and Janis had had to flip it around for her. 

“Speaking of painting, I need someone to model for a portrait for class next Saturday,” Janis said, looking at Cady hopefully. 

Cady deflated a little, clutching the sides of her painting.

“Sorry, Jan, but I have an out of state competition for mathletes, so i’ll be gone all weekend. Can we do it some time after school this week?” 

“Damian’s show’s next week, and I promised him I’d run lines with him after rehearsal, and my mom’s got me going to therapy with her on Tuesdays, and there’s this huge test in Algebra on Thursday. It’s the last one before the final, which means the teacher’s trying to cram everything in that she neglected to teach us, so I’m kinda swamped. Don’t worry, though, I’m sure I’ll find someone else.”

Cady frowned, tapping thoughtfully against the side of the canvas before suddenly lighting up and turning to Regina with what can only be described as the hope of a golden retriever with a leash in its mouth. 

“Regina could do it!”

Janis and Regina eyed each other from across the room. 

“I mean, it is on your list,” Regina said slowly. “Gretchen’s spending the night Saturday since we had to reschedule our last sleepover, but other than that, nothing’s really going on.” 

Something Regina had said made Janis flinch and look over at Cady, whose eyebrows were drawn together. 

“Wait, back up. On her list? What does that mean?”

Everything clicked. Cady didn’t know about the Eightfold Path to Forgiveness. Regina perked up. She may have changed a lot since she got hit by that bus, but not enough that she didn’t enjoy some good old fashioned drama. She gave Janis a look that quite clearly said,  _ are you gonna tell her, or should I? _ Janis heaved a sigh. 

“So I might’ve made a list of things Regina has to do to earn my forgiveness.” 

Cady scowled disapprovingly but seemed to be holding back. 

“Can I see this list?” she asked, gingerly leaning her painting against the back of the couch and crossing her arms expectantly. Janis stalked out of the room, leaving Cady and Regina alone. 

“You let her boss you around?” Cady asked Regina, looking more than a little surprised. 

Regina shrugged. She hadn’t thought of it that way. Nevertheless…

“You have to admit, I kinda owe her,” she said. “I did a lot of messed up stuff in middle school.” 

“You shouldn’t have to pay for your middle school mistakes for the rest of your life,” Cady was quick to say. 

Regina rolled her eyes. 

“Gretch has been telling me the same thing since this started.”

“How long has this-”

They were interrupted by Janis’ return. She unceremoniously pushed the list into Cady’s outstretched hand and folded her arms, looking down at her feet. 

“ _If I text you ‘pancakes’, it doesn’t matter what time it is, you’ll drop everything and come make them for me_ , really Janis?” Cady shook her head, trying her best to look disappointed but failing to hide her amusement. “Also, I can’t believe you were gonna sabotage our movie night that we never got to have because you ran away when I told you I loved you!” 

Janis groaned. 

“I’m never gonna live that down, am I?”

She and Cady continued to bicker back and forth while Regina failed to focus. She stifled a yawn, starting to realize how tired she was. 

“You guys can continue to battle this out if you want, but I’m going home and going to bed. It is,” she checked her phone, “5:07 on a Sunday morning, and I haven’t slept in like twenty four hours since  _ someone _ decided we needed to watch the goddamn sunrise, which was beautiful by the way, I’m just exhausted.” 

Cady, who had stopped arguing with Janis to listen to her spiel, looked at her excitedly. 

“Cady Heron, I swear to God if you say sleepover, I will find your favorite flannel and I will make it into a vest for Karen,” Regina warned. “It has been a very eventful weekend, and what I really want right now is my own bed.”

“Sleepover in Regina’s bed?” Janis suggested playfully. 

“Now you’ve given her hope!” Regina huffed. “Fine. If you must.”

And that was how the three of them ended up in Regina’s bed, too tired to do anything but curl up into a pile of limbs and sleep. 

 

Janis woke up confused and a little turned on, and Regina’s boobs in her face did not help. It took a moment for her to realize exactly where she was and why Regina’s boobs were in her face, but the light filtering through the gap between the floor and the curtains helped to wake her up somewhat. 

The last thing she remembered was falling into bed and snuggling up with Cady, too tired to care that her and Regina’s legs overlapped from their positions on either side of their girlfriend. During the night, she’d somehow ended up in the middle, though, with Regina reached around her to keep one hand between Cady’s shoulder blades and the other fisted in Cady’s shirt, and Cady with a leg forced between Janis’, tangled with Regina’s, the hand that was not clinging to Janis lightly intertwined with Regina’s behind her back. It was quite the position to wake up in, especially considering Regina’s boobs. As much as she tried, she couldn’t ignore them. 

It was true she was physically attracted to Regina. She’d come to terms with that a long time ago. But she couldn’t be romantically attracted to her, too, could she? Not again. And now she had to pee. Dammit. 

How had Cady slipped out from between them the first time they’d all had a sleepover?

She spent a couple of minutes squirming restlessly, begging the universe to let someone wake up so she wouldn’t have to wake them up, but it was useless. Finally, she turned to tap Cady. Her elbow knocked into Regina’s chin. Janis flinched as the other girl jolted awake. 

“What the fuck,” she mumbled sleepily, blinking slowly and rubbing at her jaw with the hand not currently holding Cady’s. 

Janis winced apologetically. 

“Sorry, I didn’t want to have to wake anyone up, but I really have to pee.”

Regina mustered up a tired smile. 

“You always did have the bladder of a chipmunk.”

She twisted her arm around, creating an arch for Janis to slip under without letting go of Cady’s hand. Janis nodded her thanks and scurried to the bathroom. She meandered back into Cady’s room after relieving herself but took one look at the two girls cuddled on the bed and decided against trying to get back into that mess. 

Instead, she headed downstairs and opted to sit in the living room with a book. Regina’s mom came in a few minutes later and turned on the TV. 

“Morning, Mrs. George,” Janis greeted, barely looking up from her phone.

“Morning, hun,” she said, giving her a head tilt of disinterest without taking her eyes off of the Kardashians. 

They sat in silence for a few minutes before Mrs. George’s head snapped back to Janis, who looked up, grinning. 

“Janis!” she said excitedly. “It’s been too long. How’re you? How’s art? Oh! Regina told me about your gallery. Honey, I am so proud of you.”

“Thank you!” Janis said sincerely. She and Regina’s mom had always gotten along oddly well, and it felt good to talk to her again. Janis’ insomnia kept her up late and woke her up early, so she and the older woman had had many breakfast bonding experiences while Regina slept in until around ten or eleven. 

“So, is it weird not having Tom around?” she asked, partially to make small talk and partially because she was hoping to hear a little about how Regina was handling it.

“Yeah.” Mrs. George nodded. “But it’s a good kind of weird. Gina is so much more relaxed now. She and I watch Ellen together sometimes, and that one show, Winona Ryder or something, and it’s so nice not to watch her stiffen up at his comments.”

She wrinkled her nose, like those memories were sour, tainted.

“Winona Earp,” Janis corrected, laughing a little. Mrs. George smiled at her.

“Yes, that’s the one. Anyway, Rob seems to fill his space quite nicely. He’s bisexual, so I know I don’t have to worry about him making Gina uncomfortable. He wants to take her to a pride this summer. Isn’t that nice?”

“It sure is,” Janis said. 

She felt a weird mixture of happy and jealous. Regina had such a good home life now, and she was glad, but she couldn’t help thinking about her own mother, about how she had to regularly raid the medicine cabinet in her bathroom and water down the vodka in the fridge. Mrs. George seemed to sense her shift. 

“How’s your mom, hun?” she asked, her head tilting to side in concern. “Do you need me to bring by any casseroles next week?”

On the one hand, Janis didn’t want to be a burden, but on the other… Mrs. George’s cooking was so much better than what she normally ate. 

“Are you sure it wouldn’t be too much? I wouldn’t want to inconvenience you.” 

“I wouldn’t have offered if it would be,” Mrs. George said gently. 

They both vaguely registered Cady calling Janis’ name from upstairs and exchanged a look before Janis heaved herself to her feet. 

“I’ll send you an invite when the divorce finalizes,” Mrs. George promised as Janis made her way up the stairs. 

“I’ll bring cupcakes,” Janis called over her shoulder. 

 

“Come inside,” Cady urged as Janis pulled into her driveway. 

“Didn’t we leave so you could do history homework?” Janis asked, rolling her eyes fondly at her girlfriend’s pout. 

“Yeah, but I want company. It’s online. We can do it together.”

Janis conceded. Cady’s puppy dog eyes were her weakness. 

“Fine, but I’m making popcorn.”

Cady spun on her heel from where she had just unlocked the door and looked at her incredulously, absently playing with her keys. 

“We like just ate breakfast.”

“What can I say?” Janis shrugged. “I’m a bottomless pit.”

They didn’t get much work done in the first twenty minutes, mostly alternating from Buzzfeed quizzes, Never Have I Ever, and taking turns trying to catch pieces of popcorn in their mouths. They buckled down after that, though, studying quietly beside each other, fingers laced together on top of the table. Cady finished way before Janis, but she easily occupied herself with her constellation tracing patterns, going so far as to draw stars of ink up Janis’ arm while Janis read. 

“It’s a space lion,” Cady said when Janis glanced over at her work. “His name is Leo. He’s made of stars.” 

“He’s very handsome,” Janis said.

Cady murmured her agreement. 

“Also, I still have that stupid list you made for Regina. I’m going to rip it up right now, ceremoniously.”

“C’mon, really?” Janis huffed. “I worked hard on that.”

“And I’m sure Regina’s been working harder,” Cady said knowingly as she began to rip the list into smaller and smaller pieces. “There. Null and void.”

Janis glared at the shreds of paper on the table. Cady poked her in the side. 

“You love me,” she teased.

“Yeah, I do,” Janis said, still frowning. 

Cady pressed a kiss to her forehead, then her nose, then her cheek, and finally her lips, only pulling away when she had Janis smiling. 

Later that night, Janis texted Regina. 

**Art Freak:** just so you know, caddy ripped up the list. how’s it feel to be a free woman

**apex predator:** Amazing. 

Then, a few minutes later,

**apex predator:** We’re still taking that waltzing class tho, right?

Janis smiled at her phone. 

**Art Freak:** oh absolutely 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry it took soooo long, school's been... well, school. anyway, thanks so much for reading, and i hope you like it! here's a quick reminder of the list janis made for regina, since we know she'll probably do most of these:  
> -Help me get ready for my art show   
> -Come to Damian’s production of Heathers: The Musical Jr. (cady’s out of town and it’s sure to be a shitshow)  
> -Model for three (3) portraits for my art class  
> -Give me access to your fancy pants bathtub with the jets for the rest of the month  
> -Drive me home every day after school next week   
> -Pick “The Shining” for movie night next week (it’ll be your turn to pick)  
> -If I text you ‘pancakes’, it doesn’t matter what time it is, you’ll drop everything and come make them for me unless you are in class, at a doctor’s appt, or on a date with cady (other loopholes may apply. we’ll work through them on a case by case basis)  
> -Take waltzing classes with me down at the community center on Sunday nights


	6. Chapter 6

Cady Heron was hell on wheels in the hallway that Monday afternoon. She stormed into Ms. Norbury's room to find Kevin already there, writing some equations on the board, probably for the mathlete meeting. 

“Why didn’t you tell me about Regina and Shane?” she demanded. 

Kevin turned to face her, setting the dry erase marker down. 

“Woah, Africa, chill out. You look like a tomato with a sunburn.”

“Chill out?” Cady fumed. “I will not  _ chill out _ . That guy… He… My girlfriend… Did you know he like follows her now?”

The calm in Kevin’s stance seemed to dissipate, his eyes lighting up. 

“He what now?”

“He follows her around! He followed her to Janis’ art show, he followed her back to my house when she was taking me home. He’s practically a certified stalker.”

“That is messed up,” Kevin said, his jaw tight. “But it still wasn’t my thing to tell. It was, and is, Regina’s.”

Cady’s bones felt a little less like brimstone, her blood a little less like boiling lava about to burst through her eyes like a volcano. Her shoulders slumped dejectedly, and she sniffled.

“Oh, no, Africa, don’t cry,” Kevin said, watching with soft eyes as Cady sunk to the tiled floor of Mrs. Norbury’s room, hugging her knees to her chest. He sat down next to her. “Hey, it’s okay. She’s okay now.”

“No she’s not,” Cady said, her voice wet and thick. “She can barely walk past him in the halls. Hell, she can barely walk past that fucking lion suit.”

Kevin had a look on his face that very clearly said  _ did Cady Heron just say fuck _ , but he pushed past it, instead choosing to scoot against the wall and pat the spot next to him, prompting Cady to slide right up beside him and rest her head on his shoulder. He took her hand, squeezing it gently. 

“You just gotta be there for her, yeah? Y’know, listen to what she wants, don’t push her too much, maybe get her in some counseling.” 

Cady nodded, still more than a little choked up. 

“Why do you know so much about this?” she asked. 

His grip on her hand tightened, not enough to be painful but more than enough to be noticable. 

“Something similar happened to someone I love,” he said, “and I’m determined not to let it happen to any other girl, so long as I can help it.”

Kevin looked down at her and smiled a little sadly, finally loosening his hold on her hand but not letting go. Cady shuffled closer to him. Kevin had been quick both to forgive her for the Burn Book incident and to accept her into his group of mathletes. He’d been there with plenty of puns and “sick bars”, and he’d even opened up enough to share some of his poetry with her, which he argued was not all that different from rapping. All of it was amazing. 

“You’re a good guy, Kevin,” Cady said. “A great one. I’m so glad we’re friends.”

“Hey, me too, Africa.” He grinned. 

 

Even though she and Janis had been getting along really well recently, Regina still enjoyed torturing her with trips to mall. They were currently in a shoe store. Regina was trying on her eleventh pair of heels. She’d known which ones she was getting six pairs ago, but it was fun to watch Janis look more and more dead inside with each passing second. She finally relented when Janis began to bang her head against a rather flimsy shelf, and from the way it shook with every smack of her forehead, Regina wasn’t sure it could take another hit. 

“I know I was looking for an excuse to skip gym, but I don’t think this was worth it,” Janis said as they were checking out. “Usually Cady’s here to make things somewhat more fun. When it’s just the two of us, she’s not here to stop you from torturing me.”

Regina rolled her eyes, not bothering to hide her satisfied smirk. 

“A couple pairs of heels are hardly cruel and unusual punishment, Jan.” 

“Fourteen pairs of shoes are hardly a couple, Gina,” Janis retorted, sticking out her tongue. 

“You could never be a plastic,” Regina said, clicking her tongue and turning on her heel, her paper shopping bag thrown casually careful over her shoulder. 

She smirked as she heard Janis groan behind her and began her strut past the mall fountain and towards Forever 21, prompting another Janis groan. Just as she was about to reach the doors, she swerved left, towards Spencer’s, stopping just inside the store and tilting her head towards Janis. 

“Enough of the dreary stuff- let’s have some fun.” She grinned.

“It was totally worth skipping gym,” Janis muttered, following Regina towards the back with equal parts trepidation and eagerness. 

Regina was almost offended at how surprised Janis seemed when she started making dirty jokes about the roleplay lingerie. They’d been best friends for how many years before she’d royally fucked up? 

“These really took nuns from ‘forgive me Father for I have sinned’ to ‘sorry daddy i’ve been naughty,’” Regina joked, holding up two nun costumes. She motioned towards her boobs. “Climb every mountain, am i right?” 

Janis giggled-  _ giggled _ \- all high pitched and nervous, and Regina raised an eyebrow at her, hanging the costumes back on the rack. She looked over her shoulder with a dead expression and gestured to the entire row of cop lingerie. 

“We get it. Cops use handcuffs. It was too easy, really. Where’s the creativity?”

“They just can’t satisfy you, can they?” Janis asked, shaking her head. 

Regina hummed in both agreement and disapproval.

“Such a shame. And I’m so easy to satisfy, you just have to ask what I want,” she said with a  wink.

Janis giggled again, going more than a little pink before clearing her throat and moving over towards the beanies, picking up a deep purple one with a spiderweb pattern. Regina took a moment to assess the situation while Janis browsed. They were flirting. A lot. There was no doubt about that. And while flirting used to be harmless fun, since she’d started dating Cady, she’d stopped flirting with other people. She knew they were in a poly relationship, but shouldn’t she at least tell Cady something might be going on? 

She resolved to talk to her about it the next time they hung out before sidling up beside Janis to tell her more dirty jokes. Flustered Janis was nothing short of a miracle, and she was going to take advantage of it as much as she could.

 

Janis was so close to having a breakdown in the library. She’d been studying all of lunch to make up for not being able to that afternoon. Between Damian’s play after school and therapy with her mom at six, there wasn’t a whole lot of time left for her to study, so she was doing her best to study now, but instead of absorbing information, she was just getting increasingly frustrated. 

She felt someone tapped her on the shoulder and whipped around, blinking back tears. Cady stood in front of her, going from excited to concerned in a matter of seconds. She set the little package of cosmic brownies down on the desk in favor of putting both her hands on Janis’ upper arms and squeezing. 

“Hey, are you okay?” she asked, her thumbs rubbing into the muscles in Janis’ shoulders. 

Janis took a deep breath, her eyes still stinging a little. She tried to nod, but it just turned into dejectedly hanging her head. 

“Caddy,” she whined, her voice cracking at the end.

And suddenly she was crying. Thank God no one else was in the library. Cady was quick to wrap her arms around her, helping her out of her seat before sitting criss cross on the floor and pulling her into her lap. Janis turned into her, fully sobbing into Cady’s chest. It was oddly reminiscent of that weekend in Regina’s arms. She finally managed to calm down after a couple of minutes. 

“Sorry,” she said sheepishly. “Sometimes I just feel all hopeless, y’know? Like there’s this weight on my chest. I really do cry a lot for someone who claims to be badass.” 

“Never apologize for crying,” Cady said, her usual lightheadedness replaced with something deadly serious. “And besides, we all do it. Damian cries every time we watch Mamma Mia, I cry when those ads with the hurt doggos come on, Gretchen cries when she gets stressed, which let’s be real, is like all the time. Heck, Karen cried yesterday because she thought she stepped on a ladybug. It was a red M&M.”

Janis nodded a little too quickly, still working on catching her breath. Finally, she found her voice. 

“Caddy, I really don’t get this, and I’ve already got a C in the class. I can’t afford to fail.” 

Cady gave her a goofy grin. 

“Well, you’re in luck because your super awesome girlfriend happens to be a real life mathlete and also happens to be free tomorrow afternoon.”

“Yeah, but I have to help Dam-”

“Damian will understand,” Cady said, managing to cut her off in a way that was gentle and comforting. “I promise. Besides, he knows those lines backwards, and you know it.”

Janis felt her shoulders relax, and she allowed a few more tears to fall, not even bothering to wipe them away. 

“Thanks, Caddy,” she said waterily.

“Uh huh, eat your brownie.” Cady smiled at her, taking the seat beside her. “We still have about ten minutes of lunch. Want me to try to explain one of the concepts you’re not getting?” 

Janis eyed her, pocketing the cosmic brownie. 

“Or we could go make out in the bathroom instead.”

Cady was back on her feet in a matter of seconds, pulling Janis up with her. 

“I thought you’d never ask.”

 

Cady opened the door Friday afternoon to find Kevin and Janis standing on her porch, lost in some conversation about Doctor Who. 

“Yo, Africa, I thought I was your ride to the bus loop,” Kevin said once he noticed her presence. 

Janis, who was always tuned into Cady through echolocation or something equally ridiculously, had simply taken her hand and kept talking. Now, she tugged Cady into her a little, greeting her with a shy, “Hey, Caddy.”

“Hey, Janis!” Cady said, stealing a quick kiss. “Not that I’m not happy to see you, I always am, but what are you doing here?”

“Oh, uh, you left this at my house,” Janis said, pulling a stuffed lion out from under her jacket. 

“Leo!” Cady said, latching onto the stuffed animal with one hand and lightly stroking his mane with the other. 

“Like the constellation?” Janis asked, amused. 

Cady nodded, still fussing with his frizzy head. Janis rocked on her heels awkwardly, throwing a look towards Kevin, her tongue stuffed into her cheek. 

“Can I, like, talk to you for a sec?” she asked. “Real quick?”

Cady looked up from her lion with big eyes and nodded again, this time more sharply, before letting both Janis and Kevin into the house. 

“Mind if we..?” she asked Kevin, gesturing towards the stairs with her head. 

“I’m cool to hang out for a bit,” Kevin said, walking over to Cady’s pantry. “Mind if I have a Poptart while I wait?” 

“Knock yourself out,” Cady said, heading upstairs with Janis on her heels.

They made their way to Cady’s room, Janis ringing her hands but refusing to acknowledge that she was doing it, as Janis was prone to do. 

“What’s up?” Cady asked, the picture of concern.

“You won’t be mad?” Janis asked.

“I won’t be mad,” Cady repeated, mentally steeling herself as Janis took a deep breath.

“I might like Regina.”

Cady sat there for a moment, just kind of looking at Janis.

“Yeah, no duh.”

Janis sat there for a moment, just kind of looking at Cady. She rolled her shoulders back.

“Like… like like.”

Cady nodded real slow, eyebrows raised. She took one of Janis’ hands in hers, prepared to tell her exactly what she’d told Regina two days ago when she’d come to her with the same revelation. 

“Janis. Honey. I’m not blind. You two have been very obviously into each other since your art show.”

Janis looked blankly at her.

“We have?”

“Yes,” Cady said, laughing a little. “Honestly, it’s kind of a relief for me. If you too are into each other too, it’s way less awkward than for me to be dating two girls who wouldn’t have anything to do with each other otherwise.”

“Huh,” Janis said. “Huh. So what you’re saying is, I should go for it? With Regina, I mean.”

Cady laughed and shook her head.

“Yes, dummy. Shoot your shot for once in your useless lesbian life.”

Janis scowled. 

“Hey, we’re together!”

“Yeah, but I make all the moves,” Cady said, standing up before Janis could protest. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a mathlete waiting for me downstairs.”


	7. Chapter 7

Just when everything with Janis was finally not awkward again, Regina had to go and screw it up by flirting with her in a fucking Spencer’s of all places. Janis had not stopped fidgeting since she’d sat down in the garage, and a lesser, bitchier Regina would have lost her mind by now. 

It was little things, the continuous tap of a combat boot against the cement, catching Regina’s eye and then looking away, thumbing the bristles of her brush then tugging on her ear, leaving streaks of paint on her earlobe and jaw. 

Regina tried in vain to keep up their usual banter but Janis just seemed so out of it. She felt the confidence she’d been running on since her talk with Cady start to dissipate rapidly. After about a half an hour of Janis’ nervous ticks, Regina snapped.

“Why are you being so weird?” she asked, a little more demanding than she should’ve.

“I’m not being weird,” Janis said defensively, crossing her arms like a five year old about to have a tantrum in a Walmart. 

Regina bit back the snarky remark on her tongue as she took in Janis’ tense posture, the way she looked ready to be attacked. 

“Okay, I shouldn’t have snapped like that,” Regina said slowly. “So I’m sorry. Still, you’re being really fucking weird. You’re all awkward and nervous looking, and you haven’t even noticed that you’ve been slowly painting a mural on the right side of your face.”

Janis flushed the same shade of pink as a streak of paint on her cheek. 

“I thought we were past this, Jan,” Regina continued. “I guess we’re not. Are you close to being done with your painting? I think I’d like to leave now.”

Janis nodded, not sure what else to say, and Regina excused herself, stalking out the garage door with defeated grace. She really did need this sleepover with Gretchen. 

She was at Gretchen’s house in eight minutes. In those eight minutes, she had calmed down significantly and was now regretting her abrupt exit from Janis’ garage. She felt guilty, like it was her fault Janis was acting weird, and she’d just made it worse by leaving. Gretchen’s wide eyes and the way she locked and unlocked her fingers with anxious excitement was a welcome distraction.

“I have a secret to tell you,” Gretchen said as she let Regina into her house. “My own secret. One I have a right to tell. One I actually want to tell.”

“Oh yeah?” Regina asked, smiling and plopping down on Gretchen’s couch.

Gretchen looked around anxiously and grabbed her hand, pulling her towards her bedroom. 

“Not here,” she said as they rushed down the hall.

Regina sat on her bed, one leg folded up towards her chest, her hands in her lap, and looked at Gretchen expectantly, making sure to convey that she was getting her undivided attention. The other girl began to pace the room. 

“So, I have a crush.”

“Yeah?” Regina perked up, even more interested than she was. 

“On Karen,” Gretchen said breathlessly, looking at Regina like she was gauging her reaction. Regina’s jaw dropped.

“Oh my God, you guys would be so cute!” she squealed, clapping her hands together. 

“Really?” Gretchen asked, reveling in the way Regina nodded quickly and decisively. “I’m glad you think so because we’ve already been on three dates and it’s going amazing!”

“She had to blow off Janis to go out with you!” Regina remembered. “Right before her art show!”

“You knew?” Gretchen looked incredulous.

“I had my suspicions. But to be honest, I kinda forgot to ask. There was a lot going on, it got pushed to the side… I’m so glad you brought it back up, especially since y’all are dating now!”

She hopped up and gave Gretchen a huge hug, and the two girls jumped around in a circle, giggling excitedly. Gretchen gave Regina a look when they finally stopped jumping.

“This is all I ever wanted, y’know?” she said, a kind of happiness in her eyes that had been replaced with desperation for far too long. 

“Karen?” Regina asked. “You’ve been into her for that long.”

“No?” Gretchen said. “Well, yeah… But that’s not what i was talking about! This. Us. Us being friends and talking about ourselves, not other people, and being excited together about relationships and just… doing normal teenage girl friend things.”

Regina smiled, bittersweet, and pulled Gretchen in for another hug.

“I love you, Gretch,” she said.

“I love you, too,” Gretchen returned just as the doorbell rang.

Gretchen wiggled out of the hug and moved to answer the door, Regina on her heels. She looked through the peephole and shot Regina a confused look.

“It’s Shane Oman?”

Regina paled.

“Don’t open it.”

“Why?” Gretchen asked, already backing away from the door.

“Just don’t, Gretch. Please.”

Regina clenched her fists at her sides while Gretchen watched on, warily. 

“What is it, Gina? C’mon, you’re scaring me.”

The doorbell rang again and Regina flinched, her nails digging into her palms. She felt a phantom hand burning a path up her side, starting at her hip bone, climbing higher, higher. 

“Gretchen open up, it’s Shane.” He was pounding on the door now. “I need to talk to Regina.” A pause. “I know she’s in there. Her car’s in the driveway.”

Gretchen stood motionless before her, completely ignoring the pounding and his voice, focused only on Regina, who felt like she was going to collapse any second. 

“Regina,” she said softly. “What do you want me to do?”

It took a second for Regina to muster her voice. 

“Make him go away,” she begged. “Please make him go away.” 

“Do you want me to go out there without-”

“No!” Regina’s arm shot out to grab Gretchen’s wrist. “Stay.”

She watched as Gretchen slowly moved towards the door, close enough that she could reach out and touch it. 

“Shane, you need to go,” Gretchen said, calm and level. “You’re scaring her.”

“What is she telling you?” Shane demanded. “Whatever it is, it’s lies. All of it.”

“She’s not telling me anything.” Regina marveled Gretchen’s stoney control. “But she looks like she’s about to burst into tears, so if you could get off my property before I call the cops, that’d be great.”

“What the fuck, Gretchen.” Shane sounded angry now, almost as angry as the night at the art show. “It’s just me. You know me.”

“My dad, the inventor of Toaster Strudel, would not be too happy to hear that some teenage boy is hanging out on his porch, pounding on his door and harassing his teenage daughter and her friend, so I suggest you get back in your car and drive away. Right now.” 

“Whatever,” Shane muttered, loud enough that they could hear it. An engine revved seconds later.

And then he was gone. 

Regina collapsed in on herself, accidentally dragging Gretchen down with her by her wrist. Soon enough, Gretchen’s arms were around her. She started to cry again. 

“It’s okay, honey. Just breathe,” Gretchen said, rubbing circles in Regina’s back. “He’s not going to hurt you. Janis and Cady and Karen and Aaron and I wouldn’t let him. It’s okay.”

She calmed down fairly quickly in Gretchen’s arms and allowed herself to be led back to Gretchen’s room. 

“Can you tell me what happened?” Gretchen asked gingerly. 

Regina felt the words pour out of her mouth, spoken before she even thought them. She told Gretchen all about the art show, breaking down at Janis’ house after being stalked there, what she’d told Janis, how she’d been taken to Cady’s, her self defense classes with her mom, how Shane still followed her around, to grocery stores and the mall and sometimes even her house.

“He didn’t just grab my boob, Gretchen,” Regina said. “I didn’t tell Janis the whole story. He had his pants down, his hands under my skirt. He was ready to… Gretchen, he was gonna… if Kevin hadn’t came along…” 

“Shhh...” Gretchen covered Regina’s hand with her own. “I know, honey. But you’re safe now. He’s not getting in here.”

Regina felt the tension in her shoulders finally begin to dissipate. She gave Gretchen a grateful look. 

“Let’s watch a movie,” Gretchen suggested. “You look like you need a good romcom.”

 

Janis picked up her drumsticks the second Regina left. She had nothing else to do, and she needed to keep her mind off of what had just happened. Damian was busy, with only two weekends left for rehearsals before his debut as Marty, a genderbent Martha that he had spent all of a month convincing the head of his theater company to allow him to play. 

“It makes for a better story, Janis,” he had said. “Everyone was homophobic. Of course they would’ve picked on two little boys in love in Kindergarten, and of course they all would have conveniently forgotten about it when one of those boys became a popular sports jock. And that’s why Ram’s so blatantly homophobic. It’s a coping mechanism. Kinda like a certain someone we know…”

Janis had stuck out her tongue.

“You just think the guy playing Ram is hot.”

She smiled at the memory, forgetting for a second that she might have just totally ruined any kind of chance she had at being with Regina, or even just being best friends again. Why couldn’t she just be normal for one simple fucking afternoon?

She slammed her sticks angrily into her bass drum, relishing in the way it echoed deeply off the concrete walls. She’d been playing for almost half an hour, working on a difficult solo she’d found online, and if she hadn’t been taking a break when her phone went off, she never would have heard it. She scowled at Gretchen’s contact, wondering why she of all people was calling her. True, they were friends again, but she’d really gotten closer with Karen. 

“Hello?” 

“Get your wasp spray,” Gretchen said frantically. “Get your wasp spray and get your ass here asap.”

“What? What’s going on?” Janis was already grabbing her keys and heading out the door. “Gretchen, what’s happening?”

“Shane is here,” Gretchen said. 

Janis felt her blood run cold. She bolted towards her car, her phone pressed tightly between her ear and shoulder. Her Boy Scout Mace was tucked in her glove compartment, as per usual, which she was grateful for, considering the now dire circumstances. 

“Where is here?” Janis asked, starting her car. Her hands shook with apprehension and pure, unbridled rage. “Your house? Is he at your house? Did he follow her again?”

“Yes, my house. And he did. Follow her.” A scream. “Janis hurry! He’s throwing rocks at my bedroom window. It’s going to-”

There was a crash, more screaming, whimpering that was unmistakably Regina, the slam of a door. 

“He broke the window!” Gretchen shrieked. “He’s in my room. We’re hiding in the closet. He’s trying to break down the door!” 

There was shuffling, and suddenly Regina was on the other line, practically sobbing, choking on her own fear.

“J-janis I’m scared. I’m so so scared. We’re in the closet, and he’s banging, he’s bang-bang-banging on the door, and it’s going to burst, and he’s going to-”

“Shhhh,” Janis cut her off. “Shhh, baby, it’s gonna be okay. I’m pulling in the driveway right now. I’ll be there soon. I’m coming to rescue you.”

“No!” Regina cried out. “No, he’ll get you too! He’ll get you too, and it’ll be all my fault, all my fault, Janis this is all my fault. He followed me here, always following me, never too far behind.” 

It took every fiber of Janis’ being not to slam the car door in anger as she heard Regina have some kind of breakdown on the other end of the phone, but she couldn’t afford to give up the element of surprise. It was a hell of a weekend for Cady to be out of town. 

“I have to go now,” Janis said quietly. “I’m going to hang up now, but I’ll be with you in a sec. I promise.”

Regina really was sobbing now, repeating, “no no no no no” over and over again, her voice trembling like a tree branch about to snap in a hurricane. Janis took a deep breath and hung up the phone, going around back to look for the open window.

She climbed through, careful not to get caught on the glass, and saw Shane not fifteen feet from her, beating a PVC pipe against the doorknob over and over, trying to break it off. 

“Hey! Dickhead!” Janis yelled.

Shane whipped his head around just in time to get a face full of wasp spray. He began to scream, clawing at his eyes. It reminded Janis of the scene from the Wizard of Oz, where Dorothy throws the water on the witch, only Shane wasn’t melting, just spinning madly around the room until he eventually crashed through the window, glass going everywhere, a few shards digging painfully into Janis’ legs beneath her tights. 

She peered cautiously over at the boy, who was now a bloody broken mess, his eyes red rimmed, the veins prominent. He groaned softly, his fingers twitching just so, but he was losing consciousness quickly. 

Gretchen and Regina poured out of the closet, a shaking mess of millennial pink nail polish and mascara tracks. Gretchen called 911 as Regina collapsed on the ground, bawling. Janis only stared, the aerosol can still clutched in her white knuckled hand. 


End file.
